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House banking chair settles FDIC complaint

By JIM WALLS

June 9, 2016 — House Banking Chairman Greg Morris has settled a federal complaint over his role in the 2012 failure of a south Georgia bank.

Greg Morris

Morris and other board members of the defunct Montgomery Bank & Trust, through their attorneys, filed court papers June 3 acknowledging completion of the settlement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The attorneys said they were in the process of getting the board members to sign it.

The settlement includes a financial payment but the amount remains confidential. Ex-board member Gary Campbell, who settled earlier, paid $200,000 without admitting wrongdoing.

Georgia closed Montgomery Bank & Trust in July 2012 after investor Aubrey Lee Price looted the already-shaky institution of $14.7 million through fraudulent fund transfers. The FDIC, acting as the bank’s receiver, has alleged Morris and other board members shirked their responsibility to oversee Price’s actions.